Jail guards disciplined following

August 21, 2002

Jail guards disciplined following escape

disciplined

following

escape

By MICHAEL JONES

GAYLORD - Two corrections officers (CO) were disciplined after officials from the Otsego County Sheriff's Dept. (OCSD) had completed their investigation into the escape of an inmate who had slipped out of the county jail, unnoticed - in the early morning hours of Aug. 2, only to be recaptured a short while later a few blocks away.

As a result of the investigation Sheriff Jim McBride said one CO received a one-day suspension without pay - for a breach of jail security, while another received a verbal reprimand.

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Elyse Meyette, who has been a CO for one year, received the one-day suspension for allegedly shutting, but failing to lock the cell door holding Michigan Dept. of Corrections (MDOC) escapee Mike Welch, who walked out of the jail facility around 3 a.m. Thomas Boughner, an eight-year veteran with the corrections department received a verbal reprimand for his failure to notice Welch was missing during a count of prisoners early Friday morning.

Earlier in the year corrections officer, LeeAnn Bentley, was first suspended and then later resigned, over an incident of a breach of jail security when she allegedly allowed a MDOC detainee outside of the building, which is not allowed at anytime, according to jail policy.

Bentley had also received a written reprimand from McBride during the same time period for her involvement in inappropriate contact with several inmates.

Welch was eventually apprehended sometime between 7 and 8 a.m. Friday, apparently at the home of his mother's ex-boyfriend's home on Seventh St. six blocks from the county jail. A tracking dog from the K-9 unit of the Gaylord Michigan State Police aided in locating Welch at the Seventh St. residence where he was found hiding inside a clothes dryer.

According to OCSD Undersheriff Matt Nowicki, Welch had been detained at the jail the day before his brief escape after having escaped from a tether somewhere in southern Michigan. Welch was awaiting transfer to a MDOC facility for his tether escape. Nowicki said Welch had been sentenced to the tether for charges of breaking and entering and had made his way to Gaylord from southern Michigan before he was apprehended.

According to Nowicki and corrections administrator Brian Webber, the incident started when Meyette was returning several inmates to their cells after being in the jail's exercise yard around 10 p.m. Thursday.

Nowicki stated Meyette had been distracted by an inmate and closed the cell door which Welch and three other prisoners were in but had failed to lock. Nowicki said Welch apparently noticed the cell door was not locked around 2:30 a.m. and around 3 a.m. he snuck out of the cell and attempted to open a window in the cat walk area but was not able to open it wide enough to escape through.

Next Welch made his way into the exercise yard where he was able to pry open an outside door, making his brief escape to freedom. "It happened so quickly that he wasn't noticed on the security cameras in the cat walk or the exercise yard areas," said Nowicki who added Welch was discovered missing approximately an hour after his escape.

"This has been unfortunate for CO Meyette," said Nowicki. "This is a good employee and her first incident. It was an internal matter and we took care of it."

After his brief stay at the county jail Nowicki said Welch has since been transferred to a MDOC facility but will be returning to Otsego County, where he will face criminal charges for his escape from the county jail.